Two questions about records

Discussions on Records, Recording, & Artists
Post Reply
User avatar
howardpgh
Victor II
Posts: 432
Joined: Sun Mar 10, 2013 4:34 pm
Location: Pittsburgh

Two questions about records

Post by howardpgh »

Question 1:
I have been using 7th Generation dish liquid to clean some of my records. It leaves them very shiny.
I looked at the ingredients and see that glycerin is one of them. Would that be harmful to the records and leave a residue on my 78 stylus?
Should I go back to Dawn.

Question 2:
Sometimes I find Pathé vertical cut records among the regular 78s I buy. Would they be trashed if they were played on a regular Victrola with steel needle. I ask this because most people don't know the difference and would attempt to play them.
I have the Pathé adaptor on my Victor IV with a sapphire ball stylus. When I play these records the volume is extremely low.

User avatar
Henry
Victor V
Posts: 2624
Joined: Thu Jan 08, 2009 11:01 am
Location: Allentown, Pennsylvania

Re: Two questions about records

Post by Henry »

In our house we use Seventh Generation dish liquid; it doesn't seem to leave a residue on our dishes, but I've never used it on records. :P

My guess is that the glycerin is there mainly to help prevent the stuff from drying out the skin on the hands of the dishwasher!

estott
Victor Monarch
Posts: 4175
Joined: Wed Jan 07, 2009 4:23 pm
Personal Text: I have good days...this might not be one of them
Location: Albany NY

Re: Two questions about records

Post by estott »

If you try playing Pathé 78's with a steel needle on a lateral machine you'll get very little sound at all, and chances are the record won't track. A steel needle won;t trash them immediately but there is an excellent chance you'll end up cutting a repeating groove.

Compared to a regular record like a Victor, Pathé discs (at least the commonly found American edge start pressings) can have a low volume level. In part this is because Pathé recorded everything on wax cylinders and then mechanically dubbed them to disc masters. The quality of their dubs was very inconsistent- some are very clear and up front, some are dim, and there's no rhyme or reason to which.

Post Reply